Image 3 of Kentucky fruit notes, vol. 3, No. 2, July 1946

Part of Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station

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An so as to jar off some of the fruits. next 17 years will depend on the
llcll workers soon learned how hard to present age of apple trees, and, in
UF wp the limbs. Some also tapped general, the apple trees in the
d_‘$‘ directly into clusters of fruit to United States are old. Relatively
'“p` knock off the excess. Most growers small plantings were made between i .
,“l)' were impressed with how quickly 1930 and 1940, indicating the United
'l"Fl rr tree could be thinned by this sys- States volume of apple production
hlf tem. Close supervision was need- will decrease between 1940 and
v‘l' ed, Some growers found out, to 1960. A probable estimate of the
lm`- their sorrow, that over-enthusiastic production by 1960 would repre-
boys without supervision could do sent a reduction of about 30 per-
_'“‘l much damage in a short time. In cent. Apple production will begin
·U_P· gr-mm.], one man could pole-thin to decline sharply between 1946
“ll~ ‘ or hose-thin zi tree in 5 minutes and 1951, if the average life of an
· that would take 45 minutes to thin apple orchard is thirty-six years,
e by the old hand method. later if the average life is older.
. Many growers had the idea of Taking all fruits into consideration,
going over the orchard first with it is predicted that the production
p hose thinning and then checking will be as follows: Apples—Down-
` back over the trees later by hand ward production nationally as much
ose. > to smooth out the crop-load a bit as 30 percent to 40 percent by 1950;
shes , more. While some were able to do possibly 50 percent by 1960, unless
ime . this, most were not able to get back heavy plantings are made in the
crop ’ for the hand thinning. Some went 40`s. Pears——Production upward
1945 g over their orchard two and three nationally. Peaches—No decline in
iipg ‘ times with their hose-thinning production. Cherries-High, at
ew. , crews. least until 1950. A ric0ts—M0d-
hin- , At first some growers feared that erate decline to 1950.p Citrus—-Up-
xtra = remaining peaches would be in- ward, furnishing strong competition
iced jured so as not to develop normal- for other fruits.
ow- J ly. This was not the case. however, Applgs are the Only major fruit
iiuse _ for while a few peaches were af- with 3 prediction Of less production
.211- " fected, the crop as a whole matured Nmmau,`. when the Supply gets
.111CS Y satisfactorily. . " ,· ·
hers l All in all, hose thinning turned ilovzcgggbilgctglllgiegngotligég th§$“§
thod T out to be such a labor—saving pro- (Since the Wa,. Started `the Sup_
ions I- cess that, rmany vgrowers \\'1ll·11t) pl}. Of apples has been inadequate,
g doubt letflln lt Cl Cllbdftgd tll°_t"`a§’ beginning in 1942 instead of 1946,
all l ,. llmo Shmldgc Ol ld _°l ls p‘*‘· 5 as predicted above. There has been
nn- it ls one ofrthe biggest changes an me mccmive to plant, but mug
T Spsssuvs m St¤¤d=¤¤‘d ¤¤`¤h¤¤‘d pw` planting has been clone since 1941
for I duction practices in recent }'CZ1l`S. fm. the fouowmg masons.
§· Hi e 1. People have migrated from
by EARLY APPLES the farms to the cities.
how Q PAl·L H. SHEPARD, Director ' 2. There has been a sex eie short-
used . Missouri State Fruit Experiment *‘g_° of h°lp_·· _ { _
h in _ Station. Mountain Grove, Missouri ‘l· _A“ _°*·ll€m€ Shmlage Ov nhl?
Imc _ NUUV Tim ) _ _ PI ery stock, and, consequently yet}
g . . paptr nas prtsinit hlghpmccd ,],1,.58,.,. Stock
lll? 1 by the author at tlze Ke iz I it C lc ll 4 Even with f1.uit_,,-rowing 1OOm_
VC of » State llorticultuml Society Meeting in Qls ,1 mumble bilsmess it has ‘
it lv ~ lllayfield. Kentucky on January h,§,l`tO`c§mpm€ with highxvages
<> , E1946. ‘ . - -- . Q
E?. 3 , { Fiirstlé Exim to give You ugcw gngccithei profitable business entei
~_ ac s an gures on app e pro uc- . ,,.. . ., . · ‘
OV 4 ` tion in the United States. This in- Og'li§H;;§g;l: me Qflald Of the
10*9 * formation was taken from a eo- C g ` _ -
’ . Operative report by Washington Now that the war is over, what
¤` 12 f State and the U. S. D. A., and gives is going to h3DP€¤ to the 3PP19
`llllw il fair picture of conditions at the industry from a grower`s stand-
the j time it was written. point'? From all records that I
SCC' ’· The greatest factor, in normal have been able to find, we are en-
1. _ i time, in determining apple prices, is tering a period of underproduction.
1 in ·_ supply. According to U. S. D. A. Many of our orchards_are old. Of
lmbs ` Sllllisties, apple production for the course, the prices obtained the p8St
: 3
i- li --1 is l ’ I . . _ , r .?`